Thando Mama's practice as a video artist is framed by his awareness that his chosen medium, video, is largely marginalized within the South African art market and gallery system. He champions this medium as legitimate and important aspect of contemporary South African art.
His work grapples with the uneasy representation of the African male, and how its depiction is often fraught with ideological ambiguity. He draws from pan African writings, popular print and television media, digital developments and his own experience as influences. Both his body performances and his unique way to paint images with outdated, analogue video technology evoke a feeling that is instantly recognizable and unmistakably a work by Thando Mama.
Produced in the context of the research project media art and the dynamics of contemporary art worlds in Johannesburg and Luanda, funded by the Federal German Research Foundation (DFG), 2010.